With Easter falling tomorrow, it was a little bit sad I haven’t really talked about chocolate at all on the blog yet, right? Well, fear not, me and Lindt have teamed up to bring you a chocolate-y version of the delicious classic that hot cross buns are. Slightly spicy and covered in an amazing honey glaze, with big chunks of melting Lindt milk chocolate in the middle – don’t they sound amazing already? And they are!

Now I don’t know about you, but I have no difficulties in finishing up my Easter chocolate eggs by any means, but if you’ll ever happen to wonder “what I can do to use up my chocolate this year?”, can I say Easter chocolate in baking tastes even better than regular chocolate? So yes, you might as well want to use the excuse that you have chocolate to finish up to try out this recipe, or maybe use the recipe as an excuse to crack open your chocolate eggs a little bit earlier just to make sure you’ll have hot cross buns at the ready for Sunday’s breakfast? No one will ever tell you ate that extra chunk while baking! 😉

Based on your preferences you can use either dark or milk chocolate (or both!), yet I think milk chocolate make them that little extra creamy when warm that it’s never too bad for my liking, you know. Imagine to slice them in halves and spread a nice knob of butter on a warm bun with melted chocolate chunks all over it… have I convinced you yet?

Also, if you plan to bake a big batch (because let’s face it, they’re not the quickest thing to bake – but they’re worth it!), as they’re better eaten fresh, you can always think about freezing some of them after they’re ready, and then take them out of the freezer a couple of hours before, then place them in the oven to warm up slightly just for the chocolate to melt down a bit. They’ll taste as freshly baked!

01 :: Place milk and butter in a pan and place on a low heat until the butter has melted completely. Remove from heat and leave to cool down slightly before adding the orange juice and egg and whisking nicely until all the ingredients are combined.

02 :: In a large bowl mix all the dry ingredients together: flour, sugar, spices, chocolate chopped into big chunks, yeast and cocoa powder. Use a spoon to give them a nice stir, then make a well in the centre and pour in the milk and butter mixture.

03 :: Use a fork to stir and then your hands to knead the dough until smooth. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and place it in a warm place for one hour, or until it has doubled in size.

04 :: Remove from the plastic wrap and knead the dough for a couple more minutes before cutting it into halves and shaping both into sausages. Cut the two of them into 6 equal pieces each and shape each of them into balls before placing on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

05 :: Cover with plastic wrap again and prove for another 45 minutes until each bun has doubled in size.

06 :: In the meanwhile mix together the white flour with water to obtain a slightly wet mixture you can put in a piping bag to create the cross shape on top of each bun just before they go in the oven.

07 :: Bake in preheated oven at 190° for 20 minutes. In the meanwhile prepare the glaze by pouring both the honey and sugar into a small saucepan and placing it on a low heat until the sugar has melted completely and the honey is nicely runny.

08 :: When the buns are done, remove from the oven and brush the glaze on top of each of them. Let them cool for 5 to 10 minutes and serve still slightly warm with unsalted butter to spread on top!

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With Easter falling tomorrow, it was a little bit sad I haven’t really talked about chocolate at all on the blog yet, right? Well, fear not, me and Lindt have teamed up to bring you a chocolate-y version of the delicious classic that hot cross buns are. Slightly spicy and covered in an amazing honey…